Sinister
Peter and Alex were still working on the cures for the last visitors to be fixed when the young man felt his spider senses alert him. Peter stopped doing anything. He was frozen there like a statue. Then, like an automaton, stood up and looked around. His strange behavior attracted the attention of Alex, Osborn and Octavius who stared at him suspiciously.
"Peter, is everything okay?" Supergirl's sister called him.
"Peter?" added Octavius.
Although they were very close to him, their voices seemed far away for him.
"What's wrong?" interjected Osborn.
"Peter, tell me what's wrong." gently ordered him Alex as she got up.
Peter started walking to the loft living room. Alex and the two scientists followed him.
"Peter, hello?" said Alex following him behind him. "What's wrong?"
"Alex, I don't know what's going on." Peter replied feeling as if his body is turning into a fire alarm. "May?"
He made his way down the corridor into the living room. May, Mia and J'onn joined him.
"Alex, what is it?" asked the Martian.
"Peter feels something." she explained.
"His sense that detects a danger." whispered Mia to the last Martian.
Peter looked around at him, wondering why his senses were telling him of any danger.
"What is it, Peter?" asked May looking at her nephew.
"What's happening?" added Sandman as confused as all.
"Peter? What's wrong?" Mia insisted with concern as she prepared her bow.
"Peter, if you can hear me, tell us what's going on." said Alex, putting her hand on the holster where her gun was.
Seeing no response from the young man, she turned to her alien friend.
"J'onn, scan everyone with your telepathy." she says in a low voice.
J'onn nodded and his eyes began to glow, turning his head towards the occupants of the apartment.
Peter began to stare at Dillon. Why did he feel danger? Was someone going to betray him? Where was the threat?
"Why are you looking at me like that?" asked Dillon with suspicion.
Strangely enough, the only one who did not seem surprised by the mysterious attitude of the young man was Norman Osborn who had distanced himself a little from his scientific colleague.
Peter took a breath and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate.
J'onn was using his telepathy on everyone, when suddenly he stopped and frowned.
"Mia! Alex! Something's wrong." he said, moaning. "Something's blocking my thoughts! Technology that should not be here... and belongs to the DEO..."
"What?" said Alex. "This is impossible!"
A moment passed. Peter remained silent, always focusing on his senses. When suddenly, he threw a jet of canvas on the hand of Osborn who attached himself to the robotic arm of DUM-E.
Far from being stunned, Norman Osborn spoke in a low, hoarse voice and creepily smile..
"That's some neat trick, that sense of yours!"
Everyone was puzzled by his new sinister voice and the threatening way he stared at Peter.
"Norman?" exclaimed Octavius shocked.
"Norman's on sabbatical, honey." replied Osborn grin widened.
J'onn glared at him coldly.
"Why can't I get into your mind? What can you block me with, Osborn?"
"The hell?" exclaimed Dillon, bewildered.
"The Goblin!" realized Peter as he stared at his new enemy with coldness.
Alex immediately drew her gun at this response. She held it on him.
"His second personality has taken control of him."
Mia pulls out her bow and looks at the mad scientist with hostile eyes.
Peter glanced at his aunt who was quietly backing away, while the Green Goblin resumed as if he were rejoicing.
"No more darker half? Did you really think that I'd let that happen? That I'd let you take away my power, just because you're blind to what true power can bring you?"
"You don't know me." said Peter firmly shaking his head.
"Don't I?" asked the ecstatic Green Goblin.
Meanwhile, May had snuck into the anti-collider, picking up all the cures in a bag.
The Goblin again began with a rictus on his face.
"I saw how these two women trapped you. Your aunt and that woman Danvers! Fighting their... holy moral mission."
May had returned to the living room, holding her bag of cures firmly. Then the Goblin turned to Alex, staring at her with ecstasy.
"I saw how you looked at him too, dear! You were behaving with him as if you were his mother! Mama Danvers! So adorable! Mama Danvers and Spider-Man! You're both cute!"
"Shut up!" Alex roars with hostility. "You don't know anything about me either!"
"I know more about you than you think!" he said before turning his attention to Peter. "We don't need you to save us! We don't need to be fixed!"
He then turned to Dillon and Sandman.
"These are not curses. They're gifts." he says.
Dillon watched his drainer whose lights were almost on. He seemed influenced by the words of the Green Goblin.
"Norman, no." pleaded Octavius in pain.
"Quiet, lapdog!" replied the mad scientist with hardening.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Peter replied firmly.
"I watched you from deep behind Norman's cowardly eyes." Goblin taunted him. "Struggling, to have everything you want, while the world tries to make you choose. Gods don't have to choose. We take."
"Not this world!" replied J'onn with great animosity.
"You're not a God, Osborn!" added Mia, raising her bow towards him.
"You don't belong on this Earth, Norman!" added Alex, holding the mortal enemy.
"May... RUN!" said Peter.
May turned and ran. And everything went on. Dillon removed the drainer from his chest. Norman maliciously tore the web, freeing himself. Mia fired an arrow, but the evil scientist stooped down to avoid it with impressive speed. Dillon stepped forward, created a flash, throwing Alex and J'onn against the wall, and pulled the Arc reactor towards him, frying the fabricator in the process, to the great shock of Octavius and Peter. Osborn took advantage of it, slamming the young man against the stairs. Mia rushed at Osborn shooting arrows, but the Goblin dodged them with incredible speed. The female archer tried to hit the mad scientist with her free fist, but the man grabbed her and blocked her hand. And he threw her against the wall, joining Alex and J'onn. Marko decided to run away. It turned into a sandstorm, flying out the window. Dillon's new enhanced power caused a momentary breakdown in the building, freezing the elevators that May could not use at the moment. Doctor Octopus looked at Dillon with horror and fright.
"Oh, my God. What have you done?"
"I liked you better before." said Dillon reaching out his hand, sending an electric current that trapped Octavius before the electric man threw him across the room and through the window.
Before Octavius could touch the ground, the claws of his mechanical tentacles clung to the side of the building, stopping the fall. Realizing he could do nothing, Octavius climbed up and jumped onto another roof, fleeing the fight that was taking place at Happy's apartment.
Down the building, Jameson had seen the tentacle-clad man fall from the loft. He turned to his cameraman.
"Up here! He's up there. It's the guy from the bridge!"
Meanwhile, May took the fire escape and quickly went down to the ground floor. Dillon was blazing with energy. Lightning and electricity gushed from every inch of its fiber. While a swirl of sand surrounded the police cars outside, and Lizard made its way out of the hold of May's F.E.A.S.T. truck, as the cloud of sand disappeared in the wind and Max vanished in a flash.
Jameson, having seen a huge lizard pass by him, was frozen in horror and stupor.
"Did you see that?" he asked his cameraman.
From his black limousine, Lex watched everything with ecstasy.
"So awesome!"
Police and passers-by rushed to safety while Dillon and Sandman were blown away by the wind.
The Green Goblin threw Peter through a window, but Peter threw a canvas and pulled himself inside, only to be thrown through another window onto the balcony.
The ceiling light flickered as May rushed down the stairs.
Goblin had run into Peter. The young man reached out his hand on the balcony to turn over his enemy and crush him on the balcony below.
Peter then tried to pull a web to fly away, but Osborn caught his leg.
"No, you don't!" he grumbles.
He held him by the leg and pushed him through the window. The poor young man was beaten.
It was thrown through a wall and into a corridor. Goblin kicked a door and went out, standing over him.
"Strong enough to have it all..." he roars before him.
Peter threw a table in the air, but he dropped it without any effort.
"...Too weak to take it!" said Green Goblin, hitting Peter in the chest.
Peter flew through the corridor, but he retreated and charged his enemy. He jumped on Goblin. He hit him hard, without restraint. Green Goblin was only smiling when he was hit. He laughed maniacally. And he crushed Peter effortlessly across the floor in the hallway below. After watching his opponent lying in silent pain, Osborn turned and left the corridor. Then, he was approached by Alex who ran to him.
"He's not your Peter! Leave him alone, Goblin!" she shouted, beating him with her fists.
She noticed a device hidden in the Goblin's hair which she recognized with astonishment. It was a device that could block the telepathic powers of Martians. DEO's technology
"It belongs to the DEO! Where did you get this?"
She came to punch him in the face, but Osborn, not at all weakened, grabbed Alex's fist.
"Reverse the formula*, right? Impressive, my dear!" he laughed diabolically. "But I am tougher than you think! I can't wait to meet your super sister!"
Alex was stunned at the mention of Kara. Taking advantage of her state of stupor, Goblin threw her against a wall in the corridor.
Peter got up and started to limp, holding his ribs. He broke a window with his canvas and went outside, sticking to the side of the building for a break, breathing heavily. Realizing he was lit by the Daily Bugle helicopter, Peter looked down and saw a familiar face on the ground below. J. Jonah Jameson.
"Now I've gotcha." he said with a triumphant look.
Lizard came out of nowhere and grabbed Peter by the neck. He made him go down a few floors by holding him by the throat.
"I TOLD YOU THERE'D BE CONSEQUENCES!" he said to him before throwing him through a window and running away.
Osborn appeared and resumed the fight against Peter. He threw Peter against the ceiling of the corridor and caught him, performing another masterful punch with such force that they both fell, crashing several stories. May reached the end of the fire escape, heading into the lobby just as Peter and Osborn arrived, crashing in front of the entrance door to the lobby, surrounded by piles of debris. When the dust disappears and the smoke dissipates, Green Goblin was leaning over Peter almost unconscious. The mad scientist put his hands on Peter's neck and clamped them.
While May took the Green Goblin's antiserum out of the cures bag.
"Your weakness, Peter, is morality. It's choking you! Can you feel it?!" rejoices Osborn while strangling Peter who was struggling to breathe.
May rushed to Osborn and injected the antiserum into his neck. Green Goblin uttered a cry of pain, releasing Peter, who gasped for breath, while the mad scientist was tearing the syringe from his neck. Despite what Peter's aunt had done, Osborn still had his strength. He stared at May, growling in rage.
"It didn't work. Norman was right. He got it from you. That pathetic sickness!"
Before Peter could recover, Goblin struck him on the back, slamming Peter's head against the rubble. Then he knelt down and grabbed Peter by the hair, forcing him to look up, while May grabbed a metal rod from the electric wire hanging above her and brandished it like a weapon.
"You tried to fix me..." grumbled Osborn forcing Peter to look at his aunt.
"May, go... May..." begged Peter softly.
Mia finally reached the hall and watched with horror what was happening before her eyes.
"Now... I'm gonna fix you!" continued Goblin gloating.
Helpless and held by Norman, Peter could only watch with horror Goblin's glider flying outside the entrance hall just behind his aunt.
"May, run, please..." pleaded Peter with horror.
"May, Run! Get out of here!" shouted Mia as she noticed the glider.
May, whose only concern was to save her nephew, clenched the metal rod in order to attack Green Goblin when the glider burst into the entrance, breaking the glass, while knocking May over, the blades of the flying craft stabbing her to the side.
"NO!" yelled Mia as she rushed.
"MAY!" yelled Peter horrified.
Goblin jumped on the glider, putting on his now torn sweater hood, as he turned to Peter and Mia with a pumpkin bomb in hand.
"Peter, Peter, Peter... No good deed goes unpunished! You can thank me later!"
The Green Goblin glanced at May, who was on the ground but still moving. Peter and Mia understood what he meant. He dropped a pumpkin bomb and threw it at May.
"NO!" yelled Peter, jumping in the air to intercept it.
Lightning-fast, Mia released an arrow that caught the bomb and sent it away, causing a big explosion that pushed both heroes back into the rubble of the apartment's entrance hall.
Flying on his glider, Osborn dropped several bombs that destroyed all the vehicles on the square outside. Press and police cars. Only the limo of Lex Luthor being far enough, was not touched.
"So awesome!" Lex watched the Goblin fly into the sky. "This guy, I like him! Here's one monster that has style!"
The entrance hall of the building had become a burning and smoky desert. Alex arrived in the hall and saw with horror what had happened. She saw Mia on the ground, moaning a little. She came to help her get up and took her out of the building.
Despite her injuries, May managed to get back up as she and Peter coughed from the dust of the rubble following the Goblin's escape.
"May?" called Peter, moaning.
"Peter..." replied May.
"May, I'm here." his nephew says.
Peter growled with pain as he managed to get up, while May ran towards him and hugged him.
"I'm here." assured her Peter despite his injuries. "Are you okay?"
"Uh-huh. Yeah." replied May moaning. "Just knocked on my ass..."
"Yeah, me too."
"That's all."
"I think I broke my ribs." says Peter while holding onto the body.
With dismay, he looked at what was left of the entrance hall now in ruins.
"This is all my fault, May." he said distraught. "I should've just listened to Strange and let him send them back..."
But May shook her head, not agreeing with him.
"You did the right thing. They would have been killed. You did the right thing."
"It's not my responsibility, May." Peter replied.
"Oh. What N-Norman said?" asked May. "My moral mission? No. No. No, Peter. Listen. You listen to me. You have a gift. You have power. And with great power, there must also come great responsibility."
Peter nodded his head. He already knew this phrase, his uncle Ben had told him for a long time.
"Yeah. I know." he replied.
"Let's get the hell out of here." said May, moving outward.
"Okay. Let's go."
May walked weakly.
"I just... need to... catch..."
She stopped when she noticed the blood on her hands. Immediately she collapsed on the ground.
At the same time, SWAT teams from Department Of Damage Control broke into the back of their trucks, their weapons pointed at the entrance hall of the destroyed building.
Immediately, Peter leaned over his aunt who was collapsed on the floor.
"Yeah, you're okay. What happened?" asked Peter, the tears forming in his eyes.
"Just help me... to catch my breath..." replied May with a reassuring but very weak smile.
"Okay. Well, catch your breath." her nephew nodded. "I'm right here. We're gonna take our time, you catch your breath, and... and we'll take you to a doctor, okay?"
He looked at his aunt's side, crossed his hand covered with his blood! His face is darkened.
"What is it?" asked May noticing the horror on her nephew's face.
Peter cried out in consternation:
"SOMEBODY HELP! I NEED AN AMBULANCE! PLEASE, SOMEBODY..."
From the outside, Alex saw Peter standing on the body of his aunt who was on the ground. She seemed to be in a state of panic when she saw him frantically calling for help.
"What happened?" asked May.
Peter turned to May and took her face in his hand.
"Nothing." he assured her that he was very much in a state of panic. "You're okay. You're okay."
"I'll just... catch my breath..." said May softly.
"Okay. I'm right here. I'm right here. I'm right here. We're okay. Just me and you."
May's breathing is slowing. Her eyes became glassy. She froze. And the inevitable came. Peter then realized what had happened to his aunt who had just given her last breath.
"May? May? Will you look at me, May? Please?"
He gently shook her face to make her react, but her gaze had become motionless.
"May? May? What are you doing, May? Please, will you just wake up and talk to me, please?"
With tears in her eyes, Alex stared at Peter who was mourning the death of his aunt.
"Oh God, May!" she murmured, distraught.
A car stopped in front of the lobby between Peter and the DODC agents who were arriving. It was Happy who had just parked in front of his building. He spotted Peter and his aunt, who were still standing.
The young man raised his head towards him. Alex, having noticed him, turned to him as well. She looked at him with a sad look. Happy stared at both Peter and Alex's tears realizing what had happened to May. And he was devastated.
Happy turned to the DODC agents surrounding his car.
"Get out of the car now! Move!" yelled a SWAT officer.
As Happy left, he was immediately thrown on the hood of his car, the officers handcuffing him.
Seeing the agents target Peter with their automatic weapons, Alex rushed towards them.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" she exclaimed, standing between them. "Have you gone mad, guys? Don't! Leave him alone! He did nothing! He did nothing! Leave him alone! Don't!"
But two agents came to grab her by the body and took her away from the destroyed hall, while Happy was handcuffed.
"Peter! Run!"
Trembling with grief, Peter murmured to his dead aunt.
"It's just me and you, okay? It's just me and you. Oh, May, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so, so, sorry. I love you."
"Parker, come out with your hands up!" shouted a policeman outside. "Come out right now, or we will open fire!"
"Put your guns down! You don't have to shoot him!" yelled Alex, who was struggling with the agents holding her.
"Peter! Run!" yelled Happy who was always handcuffed and pressed against his car.
Peter growled and fell to the ground as police officers began to shoot him, a bullet hitting his shoulder.
"DON'T DO THAT! DOOOOOONNN'T!" Alex yelled, horrified and helpless at the sight of Department Of Damage Control agents opening fire on the young hero from Queens.
Peter looked up and saw one of the police officers dragging Happy in a car, while the others were entering the building. Realizing he had to leave, he gave May a devastated last look before turning around and fleeing the scene.
In his limousine, Lex had observed everything. He watched Peter mourn his aunt's death before fleeing. As he watched the DODC agents enter the destroyed apartment, he gave an evil grin to the outside.
"Sorry, Kid. But that's how it is. You should have accepted my offer. Now you pay for your mistakes."
Alex was quickly handcuffed. The young woman struggled like a raging animal as agents took her away.
"Get out of me! Right now! You've nothing against me or Peter! Let me go now! You have no rights! If you shoot Peter Parker, you are going to be in for a world of hurt! You can tell Cleary that he'll hear from me!"
A policeman came to meet them.
"I'll take over! I'm taking her to the station for questioning." he told federal agents.
And Alex was escorted with the policeman.
"You can't arrest me! You have no rights! I swear you..."
Calm down, Alex. It's just me.
Alex noticed that the policeman's eyes had become bright red. She realized that it was J'onn posing as a police officer.
Follow me. Be quiet.
Supergirl's sister nodded and let herself be taken by J'onn who led her to a parked car isolated from all the mess.
J'onn took his true human form and removed Alex's handcuffs.
"All the visitors are gone when Osborn destroyed Happy's condo." explained the Martian. "I couldn't find Mia, but I know they didn't take her. We have to leave quickly before the DODC see us."
Both of them got into the car. J'onn started the car and drove away from the drama that had just happened.
"Before we consider finding the others, we have to find Peter." said Alex while the Martian was driving. "We're going to Ned's. He'll definitely go there to meet his friends. His aunt just died."
"I know." J'onn said, the sad look in his eyes as he drove. "Peter need us right now."
"Osborn had a device against telepathy." explained Alex. "That's how he dodged your mind. How did he get it? This is DEO equipment. There's no way he could have found this in a trash can!"
"Maria Hill contacted me." the Martian replied while driving. "According to her, Lex Luthor was visited by a man who fits the description of Norman Osborn. I guess he must have provided the device."
"Lex?" exclaimed the sister of Supergirl.
That Lex Luthor was involved in all this was very disturbing. This would be even more damaging to Peter's situation.
"And Hill told me something else." J'onn continued. "Lex's using DEO resources to track our interdimensional visitors. It started as soon as Otto Octavius appeared on the bridge. And he must have found Osborn before he reached the shelter where May worked."
Alex had a terrifying thought.
"Lex didn't just provide equipment to Goblin. He must have given him information about us. About Peter. His friends. And on Kara. Osborn knows about Kara and Supergirl. He told me himself."
J'onn seemed worried while driving. After a brief moment, he spoke again.
"We have to warn Kara."
"This is out of question!" exclaimed Alex in a panic. "I don't want to involve Kara in this! If Osborn has the means to fend off psychic attacks by Martians, he must have what it takes against Supergirl. I don't want to put my sister in danger. Far away from all this, the better we will protect her. The important thing now is to find Peter. Then we'll decide what to do."
Peter was on the roof of a building, with the bag containing the cures, some of which had been destroyed in the fight in the apartment, lying at his feet, while the rain was pouring down. Stunned, he watched J. Jonah Jameson's report on the big screen on the side of the building opposite him.
"Tragedy. What else can I call it? What more need be said? The damage... The destruction... You saw it with your own eyes. When will people wake up, and realize that everywhere Spider-Man goes... chaos and calamity ensue. Everything Spider-Man touches comes to ruin. And we, the innocents, are left to pick up the pieces. J. Jonah Jameson, reporting. Good night. And God help us all."
Peter's eyes filled with tears again as he felt the guilt of losing May and hurting his friends. He felt terribly guilty about what had happened. He had lost his aunt, because he wanted to save the villains, prevent them from dying. If he had listened to Strange, none of this would have happened.
During the night, Peter had taken refuge in the Hall of Justice. A huge hangar that was used as a laboratory for Star Labs. But since the Crisis, heroes have used it as a headquarters in times of crisis.
He advanced to the large round table where the heroes sat. Peter took his usual place, there was a spider symbol on his chair. He sat, saying nothing and doing nothing. He sought comfort in this place where he felt good. Like the first time he was reunited with Barry, Kara, Thor, Kate, Sara, J'onn, Clark, Jefferson, Logan and T'Challa. He had felt good in their company. He felt like a hero. But with what had happened, was he still a hero?
After a moment sitting at the table, Peter stood up and walked to the display case of the Green Arrow outfit that had been worn by Oliver Queen under the American flag. He looked at the base where the fire from Supergirl was still there.
With deep sorrow, he looked at the Green Arrow suit, tears in his eyes.
"She's dead, Oliver. My... my aunt May died... and it's all my fault... I wanted to... I wanted to do what heroes do... And I failed... I've completely screwed this whole thing up... I should have listened to Strange... I didn't. And now... May's dead. Am I still a hero? The one you described to me during the Crisis? How can I inspire anything if my friends and family are constantly in danger? Was Osborn right about me? How can I be Spider-Man after that? You told me, one day, that you lost loved ones too. How did you get over all this?"
A moment of silence passed. Peter always looked at the Green Arrow' suit in the window before continuing:
"Maybe the solution would be to send all these guys back to their worlds. Let them go home. If they must die, let them die. It's not my problem, now. I will send your daughter back to the future and I will kill all these people! That's not my problem anymore! That's what I should have done from the beginning... If I had, my aunt would still be alive... But she's gone. Because of me! Nobody one will have to suffer because of me! I promise you, Oliver!"